Bringing Spirituality to our workplace
From our e-book “We are Here to Celebrate”
It is now harder than ever to believe that you can bring spirituality to the office. Many argue that this is a dog eat dog world and we need to be ruthless to succeed. That is true; but only if you choose to cling to suffering.
I like to share with you Jason’s story[1]. Jason believes that we must integrate our spiritual practices into our work life. He makes the stand that we cannot speak about love and compassion during spiritual gatherings and shed that view when we go to the office. Often, when he expresses such views, he will get only silence from the rest of the group. Everyone agrees with the statement but somehow, do not believe in it.
The Divine gave Jason the opportunity to prove this point and at the same time strengthen his belief. Jason moved into a new job which at first seemed like a dream job but soon turned into a nightmare. His boss, Ray, is a tyrant and has created a lot of mistrust within the department. Even worse, Jason’s direct reports saw him as Ray’s man
and automatically see him as the enemy. His direct reports refused to cooperate with him and claim ignorance when asked about various matters. To make matters worse, Ray is very tough on the team. He refused to approve leave applications and Jason had to fight hard to get their leaves approved. Ray wanted to retrench some of the older personnel but Jason disagreed, giving strong arguments why those personnel needed to be retained. He also needed to give justification for retaining Ray’s own secretary. On occasions when Ray wanted to issue show cause letters to a certain staff, Jason blocked it by explaining that the cause of the problem was outside the personnel’s control. Ray reluctantly agreed to all of Jason’s decisions.
Not knowing Jason’s efforts to help them, his subordinates continued to give him problems and on one occasion, one of his direct report shouted at him because she had too much work. Jason quietly pulled her aside and said to her, “I do not think that anyone should shout at another person. Even if you shout at me, I will not do it to you because I respect you”. That was the last time she shouted at Jason. Jason kept reminding himself that the divine is within everyone and therefore, held no grudges against his direct reports for the way they acted. He understands their lack of trust and stood by his belief.
Jason’s job confirmation was extended because in Ray’s view, he was too soft. Jason stood by his belief. He asked God why he was led to this job and it was answered even before he finished the question. You see, the universe will grant us what we are after. When we pray for patience; God will give us the opportunity to be patient. When we pray for strength, God will give us the opportunity to be strong. This is the only way we can overcome our mental conditioning.
Jason prayed for a job that he can be happy with and he did get it. Because of the problems faced, he was not attached to the job. He did not care if he lost the job and because of that, he had the sense of freedom and the courage to stand by his beliefs. He truly understood the happiness that comes from letting go. As soon as he understood that, things started to change. His direct reports began to trust and support him. He was later confirmed and given a significant pay increase because the senior management wanted to retain him. Ray had to back off on Jason because of the pressure from the Senior Management.
This is a true story which unfolded before my eyes because Jason shared them with me the entire time. This story has strengthened the extent of my surrender to the divine and I thank him for the gift. It is a gift of faith.
The point is to carry out our responsibilities without any selfish intentions, knowing that we cannot take what is not ours and cannot lose what is ours. When performing a task, carry it out without any expectation of returns. Sometimes we worry too much about the results and this takes away the joy from the task itself. Everything that happens is meant to happen.
[1] This is a true story except that I have changed the names of the people in this story.
kriyayogamalaysia 